Each week, SPIN digs into the catalogs of great artists and highlights songs you might not know for our Deep Cut Friday series.
MTV premiered on August 1, 1981, and four different videos by Split Enz aired on the channel in its first 24 hours. The New Zealand band had only made its Hot 100 debut less than a year earlier with 1980’s “I Got You,” but at the dawn of music television, they were briefly as ubiquitous as rock titans like the Who and David Bowie. That’s because Split Enz were one of the most visually oriented bands in the world before the advent of MTV, with outrageously imaginative makeup and costumes. And by 1981, they’d already produced music videos for more than a dozen of their songs that had aired on television in New Zealand and Australia.
One of the earliest and most striking Split Enz videos was for “Sweet Dreams,” a track from 1976’s Second Thoughts that was never released as a single. Musically, the song showcases the distinctive voice and emotive, erudite lyrics of guitarist Phil Judd, who co-founded Split Enz and split frontman duties with Tim Finn on the band’s early albums. Visually, the clip showcases the work of Split Enz percussionist Noel Crombie, who directed most of the Split Enz videos and designed the surreal hairstyles and outfits sported by the band in “Sweet Dreams.”
On November 14, Chrysalis Records is releasing ENZyclopedia Volumes One & Two, a 5 CD set of early Split Enz work including two versions of Second Thoughts, one of them a new 2025 remix of the album by keyboardist Eddie Rayner. Rayner’s remix of “Sweet Dreams” brings out more vivid sonic detail in the instrumental bridge of the original 1976 track, which was produced by Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera.
Phil Judd left Split Enz in 1977 and briefly rejoined the band in 1978 before leaving a final time. Split Enz disbanded in 1984 and have reunited many times since then, including a planned appearance at the Electric Avenue Festival in New Zealand in February 2026. Judd hasn’t participated in any of the various Split Enz reunions over the years, but ENZyclopedia Volumes One & Two presents a loving portrait of the great songs he wrote for the band in the mid-’70s.
Three more essential Split deep cuts:
“Under the Wheel”
At nearly eight minutes long, “Under the Wheel” from 1975’s Mental Notes is an example of the kind of proggy, expansive songs Phil Judd and Tim Finn were writing together before Split Enz’s best known work in the new wave era.
“Missing Person”
Tim Finn’s little brother Neil joined Split Enz in 1977. And by 1980’s True Colours, the younger Finn was writing some of the band’s most memorable tracks, including “I Got You” and the Beatlesque “Missing Person.” After the breakup of Split Enz, Neil Finn would go on to greater international fame with his next band, Crowded House.
“Small World”
Tim Finn’s piano-driven Split Enz songs became a little more direct and concise after his brother’s success with the band, and 1982’s Time and Tide featured some of the elder Finn’s finest work before he began to turn his focus towards a solo career.
